What’s the Difference Between Roads, Avenues and All Those Other Street Names?

There are a litany of names for roads -- roads (duh), streets, avenues, boulevards, terraces, courts, lanes and drives, just to name a few. So, why do so many words exist? Like the much-maligned reason why we vote on Tuesdays, there is madness to the method, which is what this video so succinctly explains.

You may want to take some notes because each roadway has its own defining characteristic and it's going to be tough to remember them. There's more information here than you needed to cram into your head when taking your driver's test. That's how in-depth it is.

It's pretty interesting to learn what sets a turnpike a place apart from a plaza, so we're happy to have this knowledge, but what we're really jonesing to know is who names these roads and how do you get that job? Because we'd love to sit in an office somewhere going, "Elm," "Park" and "Main."